Attila the Nuclear Powered Caterpillar

I took a bad spill walking between the Blue Trooper and the Submersible Death Trap yesterday morning. My feet gave way on some ice, and down I went, with my left ankle incurring the brunt of the impact. After only three seconds, I could hear the little voice in the back of my head - "get up, you need to make it to work." So I did, hobbled about twenty yards. Then I stopped, came to attention, and held a salute for a minute and a half. Depending on the ambient temperature and my current mood, morning colors is either (a) a time-honored tradition of honoring our nation and its flag, or (b) an unwelcome "all stop," just because - which is, of course, the ultimate reasoning behind 76.4% of all actions taken in the Navy. Friday morning, it much more closely resembled option "b." Once I did make it down, LevelSeventy asked me if it was cold, noting my red face and ears. I said that I wouldn't know, since all I could feel was my left ankle. His response: "Oh...well, you're not hurt, because I'm going home." I expected nothing less. I was still plenty fit to stand duty, as about three-fourths of my day on board consisted of sitting in the box or laying in the rack. So I was able to stay off my feet to help the ankle, and I've continued to do so here at home.

The timing of this really sucks, because I wanted to take an excursion somewhere this weekend. I had a few different places in mind, but I feel a strong urge to leave the Armpit of New England for a few hours. Part of it is the Garmin - I'd really like to put it to work. But I also am getting a little antsy, not having left the area since returning from holiday leave. I still might do so tomorrow, because my right leg is fine, and thus I can still drive. That'll depend heavily on how the left ankle feels tomorrow morning.

While the leg still hurts, it feels much better than it did thirty-six hours ago. And though I'm in bed except for brief periods, I've got plenty of diversion - between playoff football on TV and Star Trek on the computer, I'm not exactly needing to cure boredom.